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I was dismissed for failing to greet female director — ‘KDF pilot’

County_Nairobi
 Christopher Losur clism he was dismissed on flimsy grounds

Christopher Losuru would be a trained Kenya Defence Forces pilot today had he graduated  slightly over a year ago.

His failure to respond to greetings by one of the female tutors in South Africa saw his training terminated and he was dismissed from the Kenya Air force at the rank of Lieutenant in 2014 after four years in the military.

Born and partly bred in Turkana, the 29-year-old was based in Laikipia Airbase, from where he earned a one-year scholarship to South Africa’s Flight Training Academy.

April 27, 2014 however turned out to be a black Sunday for him. The student who did not go out for drinks, got a call for an unexpected flight as a Ugandan student had cancelled his lessons.

It was at the preparation room where the training school’s director, Madam Nonhanha arrived and allegedly greeted the eight students “in general” but “since we were all busy, none of us responded and she became furious and started insulting us as I prepared for a flight,” recalls Losuru, who, reportedly rose and apologised for not hearing her greetings.

Losuru claims the director left the room in a huff. “I did not know that she was the school’s director. I then received a call to her office,” says Losuru of what transpired three days later.

“When I arrived in her office, she was crying and told me that I had been sacrificed as she showed me a copy of a mail from the sponsors and my seniors back to terminate my .”

But Losuru suspects a call must have been made to Kenya Air force headquarters in Nairobi over the greeting misunderstanding. He says the news came as a shocker to other students as he was directed to prepare to return back home for allegedly failing to respond to the director’s greetings and not being remorseful.

Two weeks after returning to Kenya in May 2014, Losuru adds, “I was handed my dismissal letter. To prevent me from challenging the circumstances that led to my dismissal, the letter indicated that I ought to be given some benefits which I am yet to receive to date since the termination letter had no concrete reason for dismissal.”

A Certificate of Termination, explains Losuru, takes a day to prepare, but his took more than two weeks, since it was apparently hard to come with a cause for the dismissal.

Losuru went back to college and finished an undergraduate business course at a local university in Nairobi, but he still longs to serve the country and yearns to complete his flight hours to qualify as a commercial pilot.

A lieutenant who trained with Losuru and who is now a pilot at Moi Airbase, told The Nairobian that, “It came as a shocker. Losuru was one of the best minds and even never tasted alcohol, and no one gave him a chance to explain himself.” Contacted, Dani Billet, Losuru’s instructor at South Africa’s Flight Training Academy, said, “Losuru was a good student. He was terminated due to a misunderstanding between him and management. It was so fast and due to miscommunication, I can’t dwell too much on the case.”

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